DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27180#0030
CHAPTER II
THE PYRAMIDS
Every afternoon we set forth. Number Fourteen goes every
half-hour from the Ataba. Babuschka sulks as long as we
stay inside the city; and some accident is sure to happen as
well. Soon after the Nile bridge the Triangles come into
view for the first time. Often they mask each other on the
journey so that only one is visible. Naturally they look their
best when you see them in a row, especially when those at
Abusir, and even at Sakkara, are included in the background.
From Heluan you can see the whole street of pyramids, for
which reason Babuschka would prefer to get out there. If
Heluan were not rendered unsafe by Herr Behn and his
satellites we should have settled there ourselves. At Heluan
there is absolutely nothing to see except pyramids and Behns.
The former in the distance, the latter close at hand, fretting
at every delay. It was the only excursion that we had under-
taken so far. This exclusive preoccupation with the pyramids
is directly responsible for the shrinkage of our outlook and
all our instincts. We wake up with them and go to sleep with
them. We have been here four or five weeks, and haven’t
set foot in a museum, not even the Egyptian. But for
Ibrahim we shouldn’t have seen a single mosque. My
father knew every mountain in Switzerland. We know every
pyramid; nobody can beat us there. They are our specialty.
Only from the outside, of course. We deliberately keep
historical considerations at arm’s length, and if some well-
meaning person starts telling us something about them,
THE PYRAMIDS
Every afternoon we set forth. Number Fourteen goes every
half-hour from the Ataba. Babuschka sulks as long as we
stay inside the city; and some accident is sure to happen as
well. Soon after the Nile bridge the Triangles come into
view for the first time. Often they mask each other on the
journey so that only one is visible. Naturally they look their
best when you see them in a row, especially when those at
Abusir, and even at Sakkara, are included in the background.
From Heluan you can see the whole street of pyramids, for
which reason Babuschka would prefer to get out there. If
Heluan were not rendered unsafe by Herr Behn and his
satellites we should have settled there ourselves. At Heluan
there is absolutely nothing to see except pyramids and Behns.
The former in the distance, the latter close at hand, fretting
at every delay. It was the only excursion that we had under-
taken so far. This exclusive preoccupation with the pyramids
is directly responsible for the shrinkage of our outlook and
all our instincts. We wake up with them and go to sleep with
them. We have been here four or five weeks, and haven’t
set foot in a museum, not even the Egyptian. But for
Ibrahim we shouldn’t have seen a single mosque. My
father knew every mountain in Switzerland. We know every
pyramid; nobody can beat us there. They are our specialty.
Only from the outside, of course. We deliberately keep
historical considerations at arm’s length, and if some well-
meaning person starts telling us something about them,